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Thursday, March 14, 2019

Last year I showed you how I started my seedlings indoors.My process worked, but as I have been upgrading
my container garden, I decided a needed I a little bit more preparation this
year in order to have a smoother spring/summer.Usually I plant seedlings and put those seedlings into pots when they
are big enough to go outside, however I never really thought through the space
or number of pots that I had on hand.So,
I ended up putting a plant in either too small or too big of a pot, not having
enough tomato cages, or not having the space to put them altogether.This year, I decided to decide what my garden
is going to look like BEFORE I start my seedlings so that I don’t waste time or
effort later when it comes time to put them outside.

Last spring, the Mr. Fix-it husband upgraded my watering system from hoses
and 360 degree sprayers that mostly just got the ground wet, to a fantastic
built in piping system that allows me to have rows of container plants on my deck!This is perfect because from where our
kitchen is, I get to look out at my garden each day, as well as have easy
access to the veggies for a fresh salsa or salad.Below is a picture of what my “garden” ended
up being organized last year:

I really enjoyed this set up last year, so I decided I wanted to do the
same thing this year.But first, I had
to decide what I want to grow.I had a
few plants last year that I still have in the freezer that I don’t need anymore
of (lookin’ at you jalapeno pepper plant) and some new ones I wanted to
try.

I started this process by writing down a list of the plants I knew I
wanted to grow (tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, and herbs), then looked
through my seedbox to find the seeds I already had on hand, and then looked through
several seed catalogs to find new plants that I hadn’t grown before.This process took most of January.I took my time with this process because, everything
was frozen and I really enjoyed looking at all the plant catalogs!This process shouldn’t be rushed, and I
wanted to take to think about what I
wanted to harvest in the future.

Part of the process of looking at my own seeds included building my own
seed storage box.While searching for my
seeds, I realized I had them stashed in all sorts of places and I wanted one
container to call my seed box.I shopped
in catalogs as well as online for a box that I liked, but I couldn’t find
anything in the shape or price range I wanted, so I decided to use my new wood
working hobby to make my own.(Let me
know in the comments if you’d like to see the process in a post!)

After I had settled on a list of plants and purchased seeds for the
items I didn’t already own, I decided to stay organized and write this
information down. (I know, sounds simple,
right?)I have not been very good at
keeping a garden journal so I don’t have a good sense of what time of year we normally
have our last real frost.There are several
websites with rules of thumb, so I decided to use that date until I had a
better understanding from my “future” garden journals.My area’s average last frost date is April
15th.This date is important because
most seed packets reference a “start you seeds” date based on the last frost
for the year.I made a list of each
item, how many weeks before or after the frost date they should be planted and
made an excel formula to tell me when I need to start the seeds (yes, I’m an
excel nerd).Now I know exactly when to
start the seeds for each item instead of looking at each of the seed packets
each weekend and doing to math to decide if I need to start some or not.

Once I had the seedling start date, I needed to decide how many
seedlings to start!In order to do that,
I need to know how many mature plants I want.I started to list in my same spreadsheet the quantity of mature
plants.This would be another helpful piece
of information to keep in a garden journal, for example, do four tomato plants
produce the quantity of tomatoes I need, or should I plant five to keep up?Or were eight eggplants too much for one year
and I should cut back to six the next, etc.I had to guess this year based on what I remember from last year and
picked out how many I wanted of each.I
then categorized each item by what type of pot they would go into, and used a
count formula to add up the quantity of each type of pot.This way, I already know many of each kind of
pot I need.Lucky for me, I have twenty
of my five gallon vegetable pots and I want exactly twenty vegetable plants (don’t
you just love it when a plan comes together)?

Here is an idea of the pots that I use:

Vegetable Pots: mix of different five gallon
pots are the perfect size for one plant (tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplants,
etc).

Small Pots: mix of one to two gallon pots for
smaller herb or lettuce plants

Trough: very large 150 gallon trough on sale
that I am going to try and use for large crops, and perhaps potatoes in the
future

Grill: an old grill that I converted into a planter
which is the perfect standing height for a planter and works well for small
herb plants like basil, rosemary, and cilantro.

Decorative: pretty pots I have collected over the
years that I use for flowers

Once I had my full list of plants, quantities, and pots, I decided to
map out how the container garden would look, much like my 2018 view.This is really helpful because, now I don’t have
to think about where I’m going to put each plant when it comes time to place
them outside in a couple of months!I
already did all the work!

Now to get started on those seedlings!

How do you decide what to plant?Do you keep a garden journal?I
want to know!

Thursday, February 28, 2019

Happy Last day of February everyone!Tomorrow starts a new month, and we only have
two and a half more weeks until Spring!I don’t know about you, but I feel like Spring-time is a clean slate,
sometimes more than the New Year, because the days are longer, all the bright
colors are motivating, and everything is starting to grow, making a fresh
start!

Something that I usually do in spring is clean, everything
from washing windows to wiping down all the baseboards in the house.I’m sure you’ve heard of “Spring cleaning”
before!Along with the regular
“cleaning” part of Spring Cleaning, I usually do my annual decluttering during
this time as well.This year however, I
decided to take a different approach.I’ve done the whole “15 minutes a day” cleaning, room by room cleaning,
three boxes: keep, toss and trash approach, but still nothing really “sticks”.I always end up with the same items being
dusted off and put right back to where they were hiding.I’ve bought organizing baskets, made my own
containers, etc to store all the stuff I’m keeping, however my house has always
felt cluttered, even after I’ve decluttered!

Now I’m not a huge fan of the minimalist look, I like to see
my stuff, and I like the memories they bring when I pass by a tray that holds
my jewelry that my sister gave to me for my birthday, or the pink bowl holding
bottle caps that my grandmother passed down to me.These items bring me joy, but sometimes that
joy is over shadowed by the not so joyful feeling of clutter.

I did listen to two audiobooks (thank you hoopla) in the
last two months that I feel have significantly helped me deal with my clutter.(Side note, if you have never tried to listen
to an audiobook, I suggest you try!While driving, while doing laundry, or washing the dishes.It like multi tasking to the max!)The first book I listened to was “The Life
Changing Magic of Tidying up” by Marie Kondo (which I listened to before I even
knew she had a show on Netflix).The
second book was “Grace, Not Perfection” by Emily Ley, the owner of the
Simplified Planner.Although these books
are completely differently, one of the points that both of these books had
regarding “decluttering” was to not feel guilty about getting rid of
something.Thank it, and just LET IT GO!

The Theory:

Now, for those of you who know Marie Kondo’s method (Konmari),
in my opinion, the theory of picking each item up and asking yourself if it
brings you joy seems a little corny.My
friend and I joke about this anytime we pick anything up now.Even the handy dandy Husband will pick up my
cat and ask if we can get rid of her because she doesn’t bring him joy (yes, so
funny).But this theory of sparking joy
is something that I think a lot of us are missing as we live amount our
mountains of possessions.Emily Ley’s
theory was to simplify life, only keep the best, the favorite and the
necessary.Seems rather similar in
theory and very simple.I decided to try
a mix of the two “decluttering” methods from these books and see how I did.

Both of these books were also similar in the fact that they
both gave “permission” to let things go.Don’t feel guilty that you don’t use an item anymore.For example, I’ve had half of my closet full
of beautiful dresses, skirts, suits, clothes, etc. that don’t fit because they
are too small.Some of them I’ve had for
10 years or so.Each year I did my
spring cleaning, I kept these items because “one day” I’ll fit back into them,
or I felt guilty because they were rather expensive when I bought them.(Please tell me I’m not the only one with
this problem!)These items no longer
sparked joy.They sparked guilt and
sadness that I was no longer that smaller size.When I gave myself permission to get rid of anything that didn’t spark
“joy” or make my happy I was able to open up my closet and find clothes I had
forgotten about.I kept two of my very
favorite dresses that were still a bit small, but I just enjoy looking at them,
the rest of them were I the “get rid of pile”.It is so freeing to be able to let go of these items and not feel
guilt.

The De-Cluttering
Plan:

The KonMari method is about going through your possession in
category, not by room and I understand this theory as she explains it in her
book, however I already know that I’m not going to store my novels with my
cookbooks or vice versa.I like my cook
books in the kitchen. And I like my novels stored in my library shelves.So, I decided to use the Emily Ley theory of
going room by room and mix it up with the KonMari method of sorting category by
category.This way will also keep my
messes of pulling everything out blocked off to one room and not the whole
house as this process can take several months.

So here’s was my plan, and how I decided to organize
myself.

By using each “room” in my house as a first category, I made
a list of what sub categories I store in that room.I decide to start this de-cluttering in a
room that we call my “closet” room. It
is a guest room that houses my clothes, shoes, hand bags, make up, etc.I thought this would be the best room to
start as it wouldn’t disrupt normal everyday life and it was clothing was the
first and seemed like easiest category in Mari Kondo’s book.

I made a checklist (see below for printable) and started to
go through all of my clothes.I first
started with tops, so I pulled out all of my tops (folded/hanging,
tshirts/sweaters, old/new, etc.) and placed them on my bed.I went through each item, picked it up and
decided if it “sparked joy”.Some items
were easy!However, some items were
hard.I through those items into a pile
to go through last.By the time I got to
those last few items, I was prepared to make a final decision.

I then continued through my list and parred down my clothes
to about half (okay, maybe like 60%). I ended up with so much space left in my
closet which I thought would make it feel barren and sad, but it actually felt
freeing.After the first day of my
decluttering, I tackled two “sub categories” and I could actually see what was
in my closet the next morning.Trying to
find an outfit was “easy”!WHAT?!And even more exciting, I found a pair of new
sweatpants with the tags still on them that I totally forgot that I purchased
months ago.I’m wearing them as I type
this, and they are so soft and warm.The
ease of getting ready in the morning was such a great feeling that I couldn’t
wait to get back to my decluttering that evening.Also, I have now ingrained in my brain that I
never want so many items in this space that I won’t over-buy, or keep items due
to guilt again.

After going through several “sub categories” I found myself
with a very large pile, (about 4 trash bags) of clothes.I found an app called “Poshmark” where you
can sell (and buy) almost anything, but the sales are usually geared towards brand
name clothes and accessories.I decided
to take a few pictures and see if I could sell these items.I had no idea what I was doing, but I posted
a few items that were brand named and actually made some sales!I turned those clothes that were sparking
negative joy into some moola!Poshmark
is like having a garage sale 24/7, and you don’t have to try and make change
for anyone or deal with those pesky neighbors who just want to see what you
have to sell (please tell me you know what I’m talking about here).Never heard of Poshmark, but want to try it
out?Just use my code “JSandlin10” to
sign up and get $5 just for joining!For
full disclosure, I’ll get $5 if you make a first purchase!

I’m almost done with decluttering my closet room, and it
feels fantastic!My next task will be
the room I am usually in the most during the week which is my kitchen.I will tackle each category as I did before
one at a time and viciously keep or get rid of each item.I am actually rather excited to see what
comes out of that category!

You might be wondering how you keep from creating this same
decluttering issue in the future, well I have a solution, my friend.For example, each time I fold and put away my
clothes, I take an extra second (it only takes one or two) to check over my
clothes and ask myself if the item still “sparks joy”.This mental process each and every time I go
through my laundry will keep me from having to spend days and weeks going
through my closet and having to do an annual decluttering each year.

The Checklist:

To help me stay organized and on track I made my own
checklist to put in my planner so I can cross off each item when it is
complete. Oh the sweet, sweet, feeling
of crossing something off a to do list.I
wanted to share this checklist as a printable freebie to give you some
inspiration to join me in this decluttering journey once and for all!

Check out my printable (full page of A5 planner size) and print it as is or
as inspiration to create your own and share it on my Facebook page!I would love to see what you are using to
declutter and spring clean this season!

Thursday, February 21, 2019

A few years ago I shared how I turned Starbucks Coffee
Bottles into the popular faux milk bottles for parties, it was the perfect
combination of making something similar to a product that I couldn’t afford, as
well as recycling my trash!I also shared
how I turned beer holders into a cute utensil container instead of buying a new
one.I love using containers that I
would otherwise throw out as something useful because I feel like I’m getting a
bigger bang for my buck!

I ran into two different issues in my kitchen that needed a
solution and I decided to use my “trash” that was sitting in my recycling bin
to fix!

Dish Brush Storage

The first issue I had was with the way I was storing my dish
washing brushes, and I shared some of this project on my instagram (follow me
here!).I love using the dish washing
brushes from Aldi because they seem to get my dishes cleaner and are easier to
use compared to sponges.They also last
longer, but are harder to store. I also
just purchased two straw brushes from Amazon to clean my plastic straws that I
wanted to make sure didn’t get beat up in storage as they are a little bit flimsier
than the Aldi brushes.

My current storage container was a plastic cup, yes, a plastic
cup.This worked for one or two brushes,
but each time I went to grab one of them from under the sink, the whole thing
fell over.Also, the times I could get
it to balance and stay standing, I had to store the brushes handle down which made
them hard to get out and put away after use.Since I store my brushes under the sink, I didn’t want to spend money on
a caddy, the solution to my problem didn’t need to look “pretty”, it just
needed to work.

My goal was to get a container that was large enough to hold
all the brushes handle side up and be able to drain, much like a plant pot.When I found an empty pretzel container in my
pantry cabinet (yes, empty, but that’s another story), I thought to myself
“Self, could I turn this into a bin for my dish washing brushes?”And then I thought, “Why not try it and if it
doesn’t work out, I can just toss it in the recycling bin?”I decided to try it out by throwing my
brushes in the container to see if they would fit, and they did!

To turn this pretzel container into a brush holder, I first
took off the label.I did this by using
hot water, soap, and a magic eraser.By
the time I was done scrubbing, you couldn’t even tell it ever had a label on
it.It was just a clean clear bucket.

Next, to make drain holes, I drilled some holes into the
base.I used a ¾ inch bit and drilled
holes in the base about an inch and a half apart.

For a tray for water to collect under the container, I decided to try out the lid.It was either use the lid or a plastic plate, so I opted for the lid to see how it worked.

Then, to keep my two new straw brushes safe, I added two
command strip hooks to the inside of the bin to lock in the straw brushes.The brushes just happened to fit in the
command strip hooks, so they stay put when in storage but are easy to pull out
when needing to be used.

And there you go, an easy answer to my lack of dish washing
brush storage!

Dish Soap Container

The second issue was with my dish soap container.I had a very cute dish soap dispenser that I
bought from the Container Store several years ago, but it rusted through most
of it’s parts and no longer worked.(it
was a very sad day when I said good buy to this dispenser.) In the interim, I tried to use a spare olive
oil bottle for a cute replacement, however it was glass (breakable) and was
very slow to dispense any soap onto my dishes in the sink because I had to turn
it upside down and wait for the soap to slooowly come out of the top of the bottle.It became more of a chore to use, and even
though it was “pretty” on my counter, function wins over form what it comes to
dish washing!So I was on the hunt for a
new container for my dish soap.Could I
just stuck with the Dawn or Palmolive soap container?Sure, but I wanted something cute because it
sits out all the time!

The solution to this issue started with washing my hair,
yes, washing my hair.I started buying
Pantene Charcoal Shampoo and Conditioner a month or so ago, which by the way is
AMAZING and totally worth the price if you ask me!

The bottles have a nice large pump that
doesn’t clog and the plastic is sturdy, not too flexible.When my shampoo and conditioner ran out for
the first time, I noticed that the labels were on the outside of the bottles,
meaning it is a removable wrap label, not melted or glued onto the
bottle.I cut the label off to see what
the bottles looked like without it and thought “these types of bottle sell for about
$15 bucks at the store, what can I use this for?”My answer to myself was “DISH SOAP!”

What is nice about reusing this type of container is that the
bottle isn’t flimsy, but if I need to replace it, it won’t be as sad as tossing
out a soap dispenser I purchased from the Container Store.I can just recycle the old one and use a
newly finished bottle of shampoo.Easy
Peasy!

Now doesn’t that look so much better than a regular ol’
bottle of soap sitting on the counter?!

How do you re-use containers around your house?Do you think about how to reuse a nice
container before throwing it in the recycling container?

Thursday, February 14, 2019

About this time last year, I wrote a post with a few tips on how to
care for an African Violet and how to encourage it to bloom. Since then, my plant has bloomed two more
times! It has also grown significantly and
has nearly outgrown its pot. As the
plant grows taller, more and more of the stem becomes exposed making the plant
top heavy.

Not sure what to do, I
visited my local garden center.While perusing
the store, looking for good deals on house plants, I asked one of the kind
employees what to do about my African Violet!She told me that in order to help an overgrown African Violet, all I
needed to do was to repot it and the exposed stem would grow it’s own roots.I decided to document this process to share
how to repot an overgrown African Violet, but also to try my hand at African
Violet propagation.Let’s see what
happens!

To start, I cleared space to repot my plant. Due to the crazy low temperatures and rain, I
had to do this project inside instead of outside! To contain any spilled dirt or water, I use
a boot tray. I get mine really cheap
from Aldi and they work perfect to keep my space clean while indoor
“gardening”.

I then took a look at my plant.Yes, I just LOOKED at it.One of
the coolest things about an African Violet is that it grows uniformly in a
circle, so I wanted to make sure that I kept that shape. Much of the stem was already exposed due to
leaves falling off throughout the year, so I took note of which leaves I could
take off and the plant would still look balanced.I didn’t want the plant to be lopsided!

Next, I popped several of the leaves off. First, I removed the leaves that were
yellowing. Then I popped off the green
leaves that would balance out the plant since I just removed the yellowing
ones. Then I popped a few off to make the
plant the size I wanted it to be. In
all, I popped off about 15 leaves. These
will be used for propagation, so I took off a few more than I might have done
otherwise.

By “popping” off, I mean that I carefully wiggled the leaf at the base
until it “popped” off from the step.If
you try this method and the leave rips off, that’s okay.You can use it for propagation, and pop the
rest of the stem off at the base.

Next, I planted the main plant back into it’s pot with fresh soil. I made sure to clean the pot out completely to
give it a fresh start. I have used the Espoma
African Violet soil in the past, but I purchased the Miracle-Gro African
Violet soil from my local garden center because it is what they had in
inventory. My review of these soils is
below.

I first put some soil in the pot, placed my plant, and then filled in
the rest of the pot with soil, fairly easy.

I purchased a second African Violet on clearance while at the garden
center this weekend, so I potted it up the exact same way. I have no idea what color the flowers will
be, so I’m excited for this one to bloom.

Propagation:

You can propagate African Violets from cuttings. This means, you can grow a second plant from
a piece of the original plant, much like succulents. You don’t have to gather seeds and re-grow a
plant like a pepper, for example.

To propagate, take healthy looking leaves from an African Violet plant
and take off the stems to about an inch from the leaf.

Next, fill pots full of moist African Violet soil.

Make sure the soil is moist and not completely dry! I used my watering can from Gardner's Supply to water my soil first.

Then, place the leave stem into the soil at a
25 – 30 degree angle.The little hairs
on the stem will turn into roots and a new plant will grow from that leaf.

I put a tooth pick in one pot to mark that pot as having the “new”
African Violet leaf, and not the my already known purple flowered plant. Any time I do an “experiment” I try to label
and record as much as possible so I can learn what worked and what didn’t.

Espoma Vs Miracle-Gro Soil

I didn’t think that the two soils would be very different because they
are both made for African Violets, but boy was I wrong. The Miracle Grow soil was more mulchy, while
the Espoma soil is more loamy. I
personally like working with the Espoma soil better. I also like that the Espoma has a zipper to
close the bag, vs having to just fold it over – it is much more tidy!

Currently, I’m noticing that the Miracle-Gro soil holds onto moisture
a bit differently and my plants are reacting as if there is too much water in
the pot.I re-potted and propagated
using the Miracle Grow soil, but after a week I might report them again with
the Espoma soil.I’ll give them all a
week to settle into their new pots and see what happens.Most plants are fairly resilient, so they
should bounce back in either case.

Make sure to follow Classy Event Organizer on
Instagram and Facebook for updates on these African Violets. Leave a comment if you have any African Violets
and how you’ve repotted them or propagated them. I’d love to hear about your experiences!!

Thursday, February 7, 2019

I LOVE the mix of salty with sweet, specifically pretzels
and chocolate.

Chocolate covered pretzels are an easy fix for a salty/sweet craving!I have one issue with making chocolate
covered pretzels, however, and it is that when I try to cover the ENTIRE
pretzel, I get chocolate all over the place! (my hands, the counter, the floor,
etc.)I have a new method that still
gives me a bit of salt and sweet, while not creating a mess – only covering
half the pretzel!

For this quick and easy DIY - you will need semi-sweet
chocolate chips and pretzels.I use about
1 cup semi sweet chocolate for 40 pretzels – this doesn’t have to be exact.

First, melt your chocolate chips.I always use my Crofton soup bowl from Aldi
to melt my chocolate in the microwave.The bowl is microwave safe and has a nice handle so I don’t have to
touch anything hot!It also has a wide
opening that I can fit my hand in without getting covered in chocolate!

To melt chocolate chips in the microwave, put the bowl with
chocolate chips in the microwave for intervals of 30 seconds.Between each interval stir the chocolate
chips, making sure to move the ones on the bottom to the top so nothing burns.When you don’t have anymore lumps, your chocolate
chips are melted!

While the chocolate is melting in the microwave, cover your
work space with wax paper for a place to lay your pretzels.This step makes clean up much easier!

When the chocolate is melted, cover your pretzels by holding
one side of the pretzel and dip the other side into the chocolate half
way.Wipe any excess off the back of the
pretzel on the side of the container.Lay the pretzel on the wax paper to set.Continue until you have used up all of your pretzels or all of your
chocolate!Tada! Easy peasy – you made
chocolate covered pretzels and didn’t make a mess!

If you want, you can add sprinkles to your tasty treat to
make them more festive!While the
chocolate is still “soft” sprinkle your choice of sprinkles onto the chocolate
for a bit of extra fun!I made three
different “kinds” of pretzels, some with white sprinkles, some with multi-colored
sprinkles and some that were just plain chocolate covered pretzels.

Now let your pretzels set until the chocolate is solid!

You can store these in a plastic container, or make a small
gift bag with plastic wrap and some baking twine or ribbon!These could be such a cute gift!I store mine in a plastic container in the
fridge so the chocolate doesn’t become soft.